NBC 7’s Amber Frias was in court when the guilty verdict was read.
A jury has reached a verdict in the murder trial for a woman accused of killing her stepfather, a Solana Beach butterfly keeper, after coming across nude photos of herself on his computer.
Jade Sasha Janks was found guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder in the death of Thomas Merriman, the co-founder of the Encinitas Butterfly Farms, a nonprofit organization focused on the conservation and study of native butterflies. She faces life in prison.
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Prosecutors say Janks drugged, suffocated and ultimately choked Merriman on New Year's Eve in 2020 at a home on Nardo Avenue in Solana Beach. Janks was arrested the next day.
During the trial, the prosecution argued Janks, Merriman's stepdaughter, was cleaning his apartment while he was in the hospital and came across nude photos of herself on his computer. She then came up with a plan to drug her stepfather after the upsetting discovery, prosecutor Jorge Del Portillo said.
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The defense argued there was no evidence Merriman was strangled to death and instead focused on Merriman’s alleged drug and alcohol problems. Merriman’s official cause of death was acute intoxication by the sedative zolpidem.
In his opening statement, Del Portillo told the jury they would be hearing things about Merriman that could be disturbing and cause them not to like him. He also shared text messages Janks and another man allegedly exchanged between a few days before Merriman's death and Janks' arrest.
“I just dosed the hell out of him. Stopping for whiskey then at Dixieland to stall. LMK," one text allegedly sent by Janks read. It was sent at 11:30 a.m. on the day she picked Merriman up from the hospital, according to prosecutors, which is also the day Merriman died.
“The motive is the photographs she found, the means were all the items found inside her car, the opportunity was that she was the one who picked him up … the confession is the text messages, ‘I just dosed the hell out of him,'” Del Portillo said.
Defense Attorney Marc Carlos brought into evidence a bag of medication Merriman was given leaving the hospital, and that he was left alone with while Janks stopped at the store on their way home from the hospital.
Janks was the only person who cared for Merriman, and while his betrayal was hurtful, it did not lead to her killing him, according to Carlos.
"They’ve been excellent and patient and kind and attentive throughout this whole trial and we are just grateful that we were able to achieve some justice for Tom and his family," Del Portillo said after the verdict had been reached.
“There are no winners today. More than one family has loved ones to this tragedy. We are deeply saddened at the loss of Thomas Merriman, he was taken too soon from earth and us," said Thomas's brother, Terence Merriman.
“Tom was a great father, son, brother and friend. We want him to be remembered for his compassionate, caring, generous, kind and selfless nature. We will do our best to remember him for his genius talent to grow and nurture living things,” Terence Merriman continued.
NBC 7 spoke with Pat Flanagan, a friend and business partner of Merriman's, last January.
“Tom was just an all-around good guy,” Flanagan said. "He loved being outdoors. He was very handy. He cared and he really gave a lot to the community.”
Flanagan and Merriman met in 2011 when they were both leasing nursery space on a property in Vista. Flanagan said they soon decided to combine businesses. At first, they were selling palm trees, then one day they found themselves buying a vivarium, an enclosed area for raising animals or growing plants, in Encinitas. Together they opened Butterfly Farms in the spring of 2013.
Since then, Flanagan said Merriman had become known and loved in the community for his kindness and knowledge about butterflies.
